"
"Consistency is all d--d stuff, Harry, as principle. What does it mean?
why that if a man's once wrong he's always to be wrong--that is just the
amount of it. There's Chevydale, for instance, he has a brother who is a
rank Tory and a Commissioner of Excise, mark that; Chevydale and he play
into each other's hands, and Chevydale some of these days will sell the
Liberals, that is, if he can get good value for them. If I now vote on
the Tory side against Chevydale, his brother, the Tory Commissioner,
will be my enemy in spite of all his Toryism; but if I vote and exert
myself for Chevydale, the Liberal, I make his Tory of a brother my
friend for life. And now, talk to me about principle, or consistency
either."
His nephew could not but admit, that the instances adduced by his uncle
were admirably calculated to illustrate his argument, and he accordingly
pursued the subject no further.
"Ay!" exclaimed the Still-hound, "what d--d scrawl have we got here? Ay,
ay, why this is better than I expected."
"What is better, uncle?" said the nephew, venturing an experiment.
"Why," replied the sagacious old rascal, "for you to mind your business,
if you have any, and to let me mind mine, without making impertinent
inquiries, Master Harry." With these words he went and. locked up both
letters in his desk.
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